POV: Jake

“Keeping the peace is harder when the truth won’t stay hidden.”

I learned long ago that unrest never announces itself loudly, It starts with discomfort as questions people pretend not to ask, as wolves standing a little farther apart than they used to.

By the time fear speaks out loud, it is already too late.

I stood at the edge of Mystic Hollows, watching the morning patrols return. Their movements were precise, disciplined, exactly as they should be but their eyes kept ...